This invention generally relates to the help features of computer applications; and more specifically, the invention relates to procedures and mechanisms to simplify the use and management of such help facilities.
Many products support visual creation of panels; unfortunately, when it comes time to add the help text, the visual support vanishes and something very clumsy has to be done.
Traditional help mechanisms are platform dependent, and often require special tools which are not shipped with the visual product or the supporting platform.
There has been a move to use HTML and the Web Browser to provide a help that is more platform independent. However, this means the help is still stored away from the application (in HTML files). Also assignment of help is still a cumbersome process.